AN EMERGENCY operation by Donegal Mountain rescue resulted in two hikers being safely rescued from the Derryveagh Mountains on Thursday.

The twelve hour rescue is said to be one of the most challenging faced by Donegal Mountain Rescue in recent years.

They were contacted on Thursday afternoon by a male and female who had suffered injuries on Sliabh Sneachta and who were struggling to get off the mountain as heavy fog descended.

The Team Leader of DMRT, Mr Garrett Wilson said volunteers had to “put every ounce of their training to the test” overnight in order the get the two hikers to safety.

The male and female hikers were eventually brought to safety off the Derryveagh Mountains in the early hours of Friday morning.

Due to the difficult conditions and deteriorating weather, two rescue teams were dispatched, one team approaching from the Dunlewey direction and the other from Doochary. Rescue volunteers then had to use ropes to extract the casualties from their location. 

Mr Wilson said it took a further three hours for the two voluntary teams to bring the man and woman down from the mountain with their speed being greatly hampered by poor visibility.

They made a safe return by 11pm and the mission was stood down at 3am on Friday morning.